FALSECeiling tiles are inanimate objects and therefore do not have a mouth to suck with.

EditErhm i didn't read that right i see now you were refering to the act of pulling the tiles out. FAIL

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bhtooefr wrote:It still doesn't really suck, unless there's a vacuum being formed by pulling the tile.

No vacuum, just a trail of crumbly bits. Unlike a metal-framed drop ceiling, the old Armstrong stuff latches on on both sides so you have to wrench it from the ceiling to take it down. I did 4 rooms and never want to do it again.

I dearly love my parents but dear lord, 2 week long visits so close together (thanksgiving and christmas) are exhausting. I never thought I'd be so glad to see them head home so I could just relax after work rather than play host.

Also, leftover yams with cheese and ham mixed into them are frigging tasty.

Ugly people have sex all the time. We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion humans if you had to be beautiful to get laid.

Was at a long-time friend's beach house outside of Wilmington, NC for the weekend. Beyond refreshing some age-attenuated ties, the best part was a visit to BB-55 USS North Carolina. I've been on a bunch of old Navy museum ship self-guided tours but this one was the best of all. Most of the tours are the main deck, the mess deck, and the pre-fab museum they've put somewhere else on the ship. USS NC's self-guided tour is 4 decks down from the main deck and three decks above, making 8 decks in total. Given my age and girth I was certainly feeling the effects once we were done.

USS NC's base tour gets you everywhere other than the propulsion plant. The kicker for me is that they'd taken however long it took to cut through the 12" barbette armor (barbette being the under-deck armor protecting/surrounding the under-deck turret structure) so that you could walk through both shell decks and the powder loading stations. I've seen them on blueprints, but when you stand next to a 16" 2700lb projectile and see the 6" little snubber capstan they used to lever that projectile into the hoist in a space not much taller than my 5' 10" brings a new perspective. Descending to the bottom of the turret you see the multiple levels of flash prevention to ensure that any hit on the turret doesn't get dowm to the powder magazines. You also see the tiny and unescapeable spaces where the most important guys in the system worked. It was a truly steampunk world.

A companion on the tour, who did several years in an SSN-637 class attack submarine, remarked that 1940's Navy lube oil (the entire lower decks still reeks of it) smelled the same as mid-'90s lube oil.

Then there was my daughter. Those battleships had a direct ladder/tunnel between the main spotting bits (i.e. who to shoot at) high on the ship and the machines that used the data (i.e. how to shoot at), which were kept low in the ship for protection. She saw the ladder rungs and was off like a shot. Good thing there was a grate stopping kids like her from getting tired on a 100+ foot climb to the main spotting top.

Captain Ned wrote:The best part was a visit to BB-55 USS North Carolina.... The kicker for me is that they'd taken however long it took to cut through the 12" barbette armor... so that you could walk through both shell decks and the powder loading stations.

Captain Ned wrote:The best part was a visit to BB-55 USS North Carolina.... The kicker for me is that they'd taken however long it took to cut through the 12" barbette armor... so that you could walk through both shell decks and the powder loading stations.

You'd probably enjoy the similar tour on BB-60 in Mobile bay.

Was there when I was a wee lad of 8 and can't remember how many decks they let us roam.

Ned, can I ask what beach you were at? I was visiting family on Oak Island just a few days ago. It's a lovely area. I have really fond memories of touring the battleship as a tyke, as well as the plantation nearby.

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lonleyppl wrote:Ned, can I ask what beach you were at? I was visiting family on Oak Island just a few days ago. It's a lovely area. I have really fond memories of touring the battleship as a tyke, as well as the plantation nearby.

finally a lead on a job! Holy crap. Friend works for a local oil & gas company and they need office help. Mailing my resume' to them this evening. Pays about the same where I'm at but there's more chance to actually advance.

Ugly people have sex all the time. We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion humans if you had to be beautiful to get laid.

I was fed copious amounts of Spam as a child, but had stopped eating it as an adult. A couple of years ago my youngest daughter (who's in college now) discovered the joys of mac 'n' cheese 'n' Spam, and Spam maki rolls. She's living at home and commuting to her classes, so needless to say there's always Spam in the house now (Costco multi-pack, it's cheaper that way).

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

@Cap: my favorite experience with a semi-ferral cat was the tom my folks accidentally caught in a live-animal trap when attempting to capture some of his 6-week-old offspring for delivery to a shelter. We wanted to let him go somewhere far from the front yard and I could barely carry the trap -- he was rocketing around like a 15-pound pinball.

@JBI: Hmm...mac & cheese & spam. Interesting. I don't think I've had spam since the last time my late grandmother served it for lunch sandwiches once or twice back in...1990 maybe? I usually mix my mac & cheese with smoky links when I need comfort food.

Anyone have recommendations for a summer trip to Maine?I'm thinking I'd like to visit Acadia NP, and spend a bit of time along the coast, but other than knowing it's a beautiful state, I don't know where to start. It'd probably be a 3-4 day trip, near the end of July or beginning of August.

Lenovo W520IBM dx340Nokia Lumia 928Sony a7 with far too many lenses to list or even count

Acadia's cool, campground tends to be booked up though (if you were planning on doing that). Nearby Bar Harbor is very touristy, but at low tide you can walk across to Bar Island -- recommended if you're in the mood for a little hike.

As a beer geek, I'm also compelled to mention the nearby Atlantic Brewing Company... visit 'em if it fits into your schedule!

The years just pass like trains. I wave, but they don't slow down.-- Steven Wilson

nVidia video drivers FAIL, click for more infoDisclaimer: All answers and suggestions are provided by an enthusiastic amateur and are therefore without warranty either explicit or implicit. Basically you use my suggestions at your own risk.

Or did we improperly intervene in the growth/maturation process of an early AI concept? I've got a 15YO daughter who, once she hit high school this past fall, started spouting off like a sailor. In the case of Watson, is it a "phase" that further growth will overcome or is it a terminal condition that can't be "taught out".

I'm at 83K on my '10 Subie and still on the original brakes. Shop wants $900 to do all four corners. I can buy all the parts for $450 and replacing brakes is child's play. If you're willing to read the shop manual you can halve the cost of repairs that don't include delving into the engine computer.

Every time I'm tempted to rage-quit on a car repair, I remind myself that it's a machine with parts that can spin up to 100-130 times per second and operate perhaps 5,000 hours between major maintenance items in order to move 1.5-2.5 tons of mass to speeds in excess of 70mph...while I and/or loved ones will be sitting in the center of it, surrounded by many other machines that may not be maintained or driven with the same skill as mine.

ludi wrote:surrounded by many other machines that may not be maintained with the same skill as mine.

I see you've driven in rural Vermont. On any given day I can expect to hear terminally-shot and metal-grinding brakes and suspensions with broken springs and non-existent bushings, not to mention all of the body groans from 20+ YO cars.